Textile material



Patented Nov. 12, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT ZOFFICE.

TEXTILE MATERIAL Henry I Dreyfus, London, England No Drawing. Application May 4, 1932, Serial No. 609,255. In Great Britain June 18, 1931 4 Claims.

This invention relates to .new fancy yarns, threads or fabrics made. oi oi containing any desired textile fibre, and to processes for producing the same and is more particularly of value in con- 5 nection with materials made of or containing cellulose acetate or other cellulose ester or ether.

According to the present invention fancy yarns, threads, fabrics'or the like may be produced by the local application of shrinking agent to filaments, threads, yarns or the like, associating the locally shrunk filaments, threads, yarns and the like with other threads, yarns, etc., and treating the mixed thread, fabric or other material with an agent adapted to shrink the remaining portion of the locally treated filaments, yarns or threads.

The invention contemplates broadly the appli'- cation at intervals along filaments, threads. yarns and the like ofa shrinking agent so that after treatment the material consists of alternating shrunk and unshrunk portions. When such a material is doubled with another fibre or with the same type of fibre which haseither already been shrunk-or not, and the doubled thread is subjected to a shrinking operation, a product more or less resembling a slub yarn may be produced depending in part on the degree of twist which has been inserted in the doubling, operation. Again the differentially or intermittently shrunk filaments, yams or threads may be woven into a fabric so that the differential fibre constitutes, for example, the whole of the warp or the whole of the weft and is associated with a weft or warp of uniform properties, either of another fibre or The alternation may for example be 1:1; 2:2; 2:1 and so forth. Different types of pebble or cockle efiects may be obtained by this method.-

Eflects may also be obtained by associating the different fibres, at least one of which has been difierentially shrunk, by knitting.

Any suitable method may be adopted for app iing the shrinking agent at intervals along the of the same fibre which has been shrunk or not as desired. Upon subsequent application of a' yarns, and reference in this connection 'is made to U, S. applications ,8, Nos. 406,355 filed 11th November, 1929, and 415,803 filed 21st December, 1929, which describe a number of methods for such intermittent application. Thus the travelliling yarn may receive the shrinking agent from a wick or other absorbent material, the intermittent application being eifected either by moving the applying means into contact with the yarn or by causing the yarn to be displaced into or out 10 of contact with the applying means. Thus one or more wicks or other absorbent material suitably supplied with the shrinking agent may be mounted and operated so as to rotate, oscillate, or reciprocate into contact with the travelling l5 yarn,.the frequency and duration of each contact determining the frequency of the shrunk portions and also the length of each shrunk portion. A convenient apparatus comprises a rotary device having a. plurality of arms, each carrying a wick 2 which is kept moistened and supplied from a container inside or in communication with the de-' vice. Alternatively, the wicks may be fed by contact with a roller rotating in a trough of the shrinking agent. The arrangement of the arms 25 on the device, their length of contact with the filaments, yarns or threads, and the speed of rotation of the device determine the arrangement of the shrunk portions on the material. Similar rotary, oscillatory orlreciprocatory devices 39 I may be employed to bring the travelling yarn into or out of contact with the applying means, which may conveniently comprise a stationary wick or other absorbent material charged with the shrinking agent, For instance, a plurality of arms may be mounted on a rotary device arranged so as to intercept the yarn on its, way to a wick, the arms being brought by the rotation of the device into contact with the yarnto raise it out of contact with the wick and to effect an intermittent application of the shrinking agent to the yarn. 'As a further alternative the shrinking agent may be applied by printing the yarn, as by means of an embossed or indented roller, the shrinking agent being for example in the form of a paste made up with a suitable thickening agent. Such yarns, filaments or threads of all for example natural cellulosic fibres, such as cotton, artificial cellulosic fibres, such as viscose, cuprammonium and nitro cellulose artificial silks, animal fibres, for instance wool and silk, and cellulose derivative fibres. Inasmuch as in the case of cellulose derivative fibres the range of suitable shrinking agents is very large, and shrinking agents may readily be chosen which do not materially damage the fibre, these materials are the most valuable for use in the present invention.

The shrinking agent for producing the local shrinkage will of course be chosen in accordance with the nature of the fibre under treatment, and the shrinking agent to be applied subsequently to the mixed material containing the differentially or intermittently shrunk fibre and the other fibre may be chosen to avoid damage both to the fibre to be shrunk and to the other fibre. The following shrinking agents may be used in accordance with the present invention:for cellulosic fibres, caustic alkali, and particularly caustic soda of mercerlzing strength, caustic soda in conjunction with carbon bisulphide, Schweitzers reagent and thiocyanates; for animal fibres, mineral acids, such as nitric acid, sulphuric acid or phosphoric acid; and for cellulose esters or ethers, acetic acid, formic acid, lactic acid, diacetone alcohol, acetone, the ethers or esters or ether-esters of olefine glycols or polyolefine glycols, for instance the monoand dimethyl and ethyl ethers of ethylene glycol, glycol mono acetate, methyl glycol mono acetate, dioxane, the mono'methyl and ethyl ethers of propylene glycol and the mono ethyl ethers of say they are not themselves solvents but are strong swelling agents'for the cellulose derivative, while in association with comparatively small amounts of other non-solvents, and par-' ticularly alcohols, they can dissolve the cellulose derivative. It is preferable to dilute the shrinking agent with a diluent, for example benzene, toluene, xylene and other cyclic hydrocarbons, benzine, petrol ether, kerosene and other hydrocarbons of the aliphatic or petroleum series, carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethylene, perchlorethylene and other chlorinated or halogenated compounds which are inert or comparatively inert towards the cellulose derivative, alcohols, glycols. glycerine or water, so as to modify or restrain its shrinking action. Thus, for instance, with acetone soluble cellulose acetate yarn a 60 to 70% solution of methylene chloride in benzene or carbon tetrachloride is very suitable.

, The shrinking agent, and particularly the latent solvent type of shrinking agent for a cellulose derivative, may be capable of efl'ectingdifferential shrinkage as between two fibres, e. g.v two fibres made from one and the same cellulose derivative or made from cellulose derivaties ofdifferent ester or ether content or made from different cellulose derivatives. Thus, with acetone soluble cellulose acetate the modern high tenacity wet spun yarns and the highly stretched dry spun yarns appear to be capable of a greater shrinkage than ordinary dry spun yarns. This property may be utilized to obtain the effects of 5 the present invention by mixing such differentially shrinkable yarns, one at least of which has been locally shrunk in accordance with the main characteristic of the invention, with or without association with other fibres which are not acted upon by the particular shrinking agent being used.

Further efiects may if desired be produced by the application, local, intermittent or otherwise, of dyes or other efiect materials, such as pigments, fish scale and the like, such effect materials being applied if desired together with the shrinking agent. Further effects may be obtained by printing, dyeing, delustering,.lustering or other known means. It is to be noted that the shrinking agent may itself be the means of producing a differential lustre depending somewhat upon the concentration and conditions of treatment.

Instead of applying the shrinking agent uniformly over the whole fabric or other material containing both a locally shrunk yarn and a yarn of uniform characteristics, the shrinking agent may be applied locally so as to obtain the special'effects of the present invention on a background of plain material.

As previously indicated the invention is of greatest value in the treatment of materials consisting of or containing cellulose esters or ethers, and particularly the acetone soluble cellulose acetate, on account of the wide range of shrinking agents available for the purpose. In addition to yarns containing the acetone-soluble cellulose acetates, yarns, filaments, threads and the like of other cellulose acetates or of other cellulose esters may be treated, for example cellulose formate, cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, cellulose nitro acetate, or from cellulose ethers, for instance methyl, ethyl or benzyl cellulose or from cellulose ester-ethers.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

1. Process for the production of effect materials which comprises shrinking with latent solvents, threads, yarns, fabrics or other textile materials made of cellulose acetate and containing uniformly shrunk constituents and constituents having a varying shrinking reaction along their length to the action of such latent solvents.

2. Process for the production of effect materials which comprises locally treating with a halogenated hydrocarbon selected from the oup consisting of methylene chloride, ethylene chloride, dichlorethylene, chloroform and tetrachlorethane, threads, yarns, fabrics or other textile materials containing constituents made of cellulose acetate and having a varying reaction along their length to the action of such halogenated hydrocarbons.

3. Process for the production of effect materials which comprises treating with a 60-70% solution in a hydrocarbon of a halogenated hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of methylene chloride, ethylene chloride, dichlorethylene, chloroform and tetrachlorethane, threads, yarns, fabrics or other textile materials containing constituents made of cellulose acetate and having a varying reaction along their length to. the action of such solutions of halogenated hydrocarbons.

4. Process for the production 01. efi'ect materials which comprises treating with a, halogenated hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of methylene chloride, ethylene chloride, dichlorethylene; chloroform and tetrachlorethane, threads, yarns, fabrics or other textile materials containing constituents made of cellulose acetate and having a. varying reaction along their length to the action of such halogenated hydrocarbons.

HENRY DREYF'US. A 

